My Vampire System (WN)

The others in the room with Quinn were also quick on the uptake. One teleporter not working could just have just been a coincidence, two not working however indicated that something was wrong. Jammed teleporters were one of the first signs that an attack was incoming. The Dalkis' ability to do such a thing was one of the reasons they had been warned to stop relying on the teleporters.

"Inform all of the Cursed planets to prepare themselves for an attack!" Helen immediately ordered. She was unsure if the other planets were affected, but there was always the worry that something big was on the horizon and it was better to be safe than sorry. "Make sure that the Daisy faction is prepared as well. I might not be able to give an update straight away, tell the Cursed faction leaders to take command until we get the situation under control!"

There was no need for Helen to say it twice, as everyone had been getting ready for the war ahead of them. Quickly everyone inside the teleporter room had stepped out to look into the distance.

Just like Earth, the Daisy planet also had four seasons it went through. Currently, it was undergoing its version of 'spring'. There was a clear blue sky, and thanks to that Quinn and the others could clearly see the large black blip, and many pods dropping down from the mothership. Helen could only stare at it frozen in place, as the black pods reached the surface a few moments later.

'A mothership here of all places?! Have the Dalki decided to use their full force on the Cursed faction? But why, what do they have to gain? Did they know that Quinn was here?' The woman wondered.

Soon though, reports about similar situations occurring on the other planets came in and Helen was beginning to realise the true horror of their actual situation. Not only was the Cursed faction being attacked but at the same time this was happening, the other two major groups as well. What was worrying her most though, was the fact that the other planets had said that they could see a mothership hovering over each one.

For the first time she was at a bit of a loss of what to do, before she finally said something.

"The Travellers, some of them are still out hunting. If they meet with the Dalki they're done for!"

At the moment, Peach, one of Daisy's older sisters, was also standing by her side and was the one giving her an update on the situation with the other planets.

"Helen, we don't have time to take care of them. Right now we need to try to gather as much information as possible before deciding on our next course of action. I'm afraid the only thing we can do is hope that they come back in one piece. I'm sure they must have seen the mothership before us so they would be travelling back as we speak."

Although she didn't like leaving things up to fate, Helen had to admit that her sister was right. This was war at a scale none of them had expected. This wasn't the time to save a few at the cost of countless others.

Looking at Quinn she was wondering what his plans were, perhaps he could call for help from the Cursed faction. However, she just witnessed him standing in place with a look of great concern, but it almost looked as if he wasn't looking at the Dalki ship itself but something else.

Helen was correct. At the moment, Quinn was staring at the sudden notification screen that had appeared the moment he had set foot outside of the building and laid eyes on the mothership.

[A new quest has been received]

[As leader of the Cursed faction you must act like one]

[Stop the Dalki from taking over more than half of the Cursed planets]

[0/10]

In total the Cursed faction owned eighteen planets, which meant that Quinn could allow nine of them to be taken over or destroyed. He could see that the number would increase as each planet was taken over, but the Quest message didn't stop there.

[To complete the quest, destroy over half of the motherships]

[0/10]

'Both of these messages look like they go hand in hand but not quite. Just because I destroy the motherships, the Dalki that have already been deployed could still take over the planet. I have to make sure that they are protected even after destroying the motherships.'

Lastly there was the last part of the message which was why he stood still for so long.

[Failure to complete the quest will result in a penalty]

[Quest reward]

'A penalty? This is the first time the system has ever assigned such a thing. Why at a time like this? What would the penalty even be? Since the rewards are usually stats and level ups, could it be that it intends to take some of those away?'

This was worrying him more than anything. Without the teleporters, and with how far the other Cursed faction members were, it would take them a long time to even help out in the war. He needed to act fast if he wanted to save those planets.

Although he might not die, failing the Quest could lead to him getting weaker. If the system was able to give him stats and levels making him stronger than it stood to reason that could just as easily take them away.

'I think the same.' Vincent agreed. 'As you know, the system was based on a game. It uses AI that assigns Quests based on the information around it. The thing is I never thought a penalty would show up. In the game itself there were penalties each time you would die. Of course, in real life if you die you don't get a second chance so I never thought I would see this.'

'What type of penalties did the user get from dying?' Quinn asked, thinking that they might be similar.

'It was pretty random and could range from a loss of items or abilities, to the loss of levels, stats to just a simple loss of experience points.'

None of those options sounded good to Quinn. He had long since wanted to stop relying on the system. It was odd how quick it had allowed him to strengthen himself in certain areas. Even without its help Quinn could be considered to be plenty strong now, but to fight the likes of Arthur, Hilston or the Dalki leaders, he needed all the help he could get.

"Helen, I'll go out and look for those Travelers that are still outside. Using my shadow powers I am the ideal person to do it, but I won't be able to bring them back to the Shelter, I have something else I need to do. I'll carry on looking for the others instead."

'"What are you saying, what are you planning to do Quinn?" Helen asked.

Looking at the large ship, and reading the Quest again, it was clear as day what he needed to do. He needed to find a way to destroy a ship that couldn't even be taken down by energy blasts.

'The outside is probably too strong, so the only way is to look for a way to sabotage it from the inside.' Quinn concluded. The system hadn't given him any Quests that had been completely impossible, so he hoped it hadn't started now. Then again, this was also the first time it had brought up a penalty…

"Assemble a team that is willing to go out with me, I'll help the others on the way, and they can update you on the Dalki situation once I've taken down that thing. Then we can focus on the rest." Quinn ordered.

'The rest? That thing? He can't be planning to go from one planet to the next and take out the motherships, could he?' Helen was shocked. The amount of black pods that continued to rain down was testimony that there were far more Dalki on the planet than any of them had ever seen. It would be troublesome enough to just deal with them, but it looked like Quinn had made his mind.

Helen too wanted to save the Travelers. The only thing she could hope was that Quinn could come to his senses once they were on the outside.

As the leader of the Daisy faction she quickly called for the group of twelve individuals that would be sent with Quinn to get the Travelers that were outside and to bring them back information. These twelve were the ones who had been rewarded with the blood weapons.

Now that there was no way to deliver the rest of the weapons, he left them all in the hands of Helen to distribute them among those she trusted. Daisy was one of the strongest factions out of the others so they probably needed it the least, but it was useless not to use them and hoard them at the moment.

Just as Quinn was ready to move out, he could feel something. The bond he had with his people on the Cursed ship. He could tell that they were in the middle of a battle and it felt that it wasn't an easy one.

'They're all so far away that I can't pinpoint who's who. It could be Alex and the others, the Dalki have invaded there as well, or maybe those on the Cursed ship?'

Thinking about this, Quinn was hesitating whether he should check in with the others, but that's when the Quest line updated.

[1/10 Planets have been taken over by the Dalki]

'What the…'

******